U.S. Supreme Court to hear Guam's dump case, $84M at stake

A U.S. Supreme Court hearing early this week will help determine if the Navy should pay at least part of the cost of closing and maintaining the environmentally hazardous Ordot dump.

At stake for Guam is more than $84 million — the $69.05 million already spent by the local government to close the dump and the more than $15 million that must be spent to monitor and maintain the closed site for decades.

Supreme Court justices early Tuesday, about 1 a.m. Guam time, are scheduled to hear oral arguments in an appeal filed by the government of Guam in its lawsuit against the Navy.

The issue before the court is the Superfund Act and whether Guam missed a three-year window of opportunity under the act to seek payment from the Navy as a “potentially responsible party” for the hazardous dump site. A key question is whether a 2004 consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which required GovGuam to close the dump and build a new landfill, started the clock ticking on the three-year claims window.

Read more: https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/local/2021/04/26/u-s-supreme-court-hear-guams-dump-case-84-m-stake/7347396002/
(Guam Pacific Daily News)